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Wroot Rocks on Saturday, packed hall, absolutely drenched with sweat by the end of the set, played well, sounded ace Northern Kin festival on Sunday, we were first on but still plenty in the big top, so cool to play on such a big stage with a big PA. They had an ampeg SVT and fridge for our bassist, sounded cool. I don't have a pic from the audience perspective. This is just after sound check

Had one on Friday but not had chance to report as i was busy rest of weekend. Considering I'd been on holiday for two weeks and we'd had one very short and loose rehearsal 4 days before it didn't go down too badly. In fact they kept asking for more in second set to the point we ended up doing a first 45 followed by a second 80! Some generous positive feedback from a mixture of punters and other muso's from other bands. Hopefully will be back there next year.

A very big thank you to Mike and everyone that helped put this event on - your effort is genuinely appreciated. It was so nice to get together with everyone again and catch up. It's not just about basses as over lunch we: We cured old age pains that make you go arrrggghh when you sit down or get up (just requires rhubarb crumble) We shared a recipe for the perfect salad dressing# Ate some very nice food. Went back for more. And went back for more again..... For anyone that hasn't been to this before, put it in your diary for next year. It is such a friendly event in a beautiful setting. I'm looking forward to the next one already!!

That can't have been easy to play with the neck joined in the middle like that..! ... ...

More theatre dates for me last weekend, Friday night was in Telford & then we moved onto Stockport Plaza Saturday, A fantastic old theatre with beautiful decor….

Here's how it looks now with the filled pickup cavity. Ive put a strip of tape across the top of the pickup too, to stop any stray 'clicks' when I dig in a bit. I'm going to stop guffing about with it now it sounds great and does everything I wanted it to. The End

Here is the link to the FOC website our friend Richard created for the last Bash, which now contains yesterday's pic's as well. He hasn't had time to do an edit and is away for a few days now so everything is there - including some blurred images where the autofocus on his camera has focussed on the wrong thing. You can view and/or copy whatever you want from here: https://bigfatswbassbash.weebly.com/

Most kind Stew but honestly no need. Despite the lower than average turnout, today's event broke even because we made enough money in 2019 to cover the hall booking for 2020 and then the hall didn't charge us anything for postponing until this year.

Had a fun afternoon playing at the Manchester Food and Drink festival. Apparently my playing was improved no end by not drinking a copious amount of beer beforehand. Not sure that's a trend to be encouraged 🤣

Really interesting and useful (for muppets like me) exposition on various options for fooling around on a single chord

The ever expanding family

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£1 per raffle ticket

I live in hope of a Performer reissue. Having played Stub's yesterday, I am more hooked than ever.

It's a ruby red 4003s, heavily customised. I swapped out the white pickguard / TRC for black and removed that awful pickup cover. Other than that I added the zero mod thumb rest and put a racing stipe on it. The strings are neon red but the camera snap doesn't do them justice. I know there's not a lot of Ric love on BC but it's a great bass.

For all those that couldn’t make it this year, you can still be the “King of Cool “ and order a T shirt from @scrumpymike while stock lasts. I was lucky enough not only to get a T shirt, but to come home with something Tele shaped as well, time to start saving for next year !!!

I finally got in a rehearsal room with my new combo yesterday. Played with a drummer and a guitarist (the louder of our two guitarists couldn’t make it). Disclaimer. I’ve recently come back to playing after 22 years. Back then I played a few pub gigs with an 160 watt Peavey TNT combo. No other experience to speak of. I’m super happy with the studio 15. It dealt easily with the situation. I mostly played with the pre gain at around 3 o’clock , volume just before 12 and the volume on my Bruce Thomas profile P Bass about 3/4 It was plenty load enough and sounded fantastic to me and the others. We recorded a couple of tracks onto a zoom multitrack recorder with the amp miked up and a couple of tracks using the zoom’s build in mics in the middle of the room. Listening back today the sound good and the bass sounds clear and the loudest thing in the room. I’m very happy with my bargain purchase.

"C'MON TAUNTON, LEMME HEAR YOU MAKE SOME FACKIN NOISE!!"

Getting close now 🙂

Just saw this over at TB- A new, but not yet officially announced, Euro Series - Euro RST. Key features seem to be the roasted maple necks, empress wood as body wood (aka paulownia, known to be very light), the three new finishes and Aguilar humbuckers and Aguilar OBP-2 preamp. The latter makes sense thanks to Korg's recent acquisition of Aguilar. https://www.guitarcenter.com/Spector/Euro-4-RST-Electric-Bass.gc What do you think?

And here it is with my other basses. The green P Bass is currently up for sale as I really don't need it, but the more I play it the more I am having doubts...

That wasn't Norm, it was Santa Claus recruiting for more Elves, as most of last years have gone back to Greenland.....

Loving @Norm's beard progress btw! 😁

Mikey Way Mustang? Passive humbucker right in the sweet spot. Shouldn’t be too expensive but becoming rare as rocking horse poo. Reverb has one up in the states at an extremely ambitious $1050 ish.

I do like a bit of Electric Wizard. Today I'm enjoying some YOB

I was impressed by our singer/guitarist. He's early 20s but very confident and did a great job with the crowd, even got them clapping and singing along. He understands that the best way to convince a crowd the band is really good is to tell them they are!

It's a tweaked Woolly Mammoth clone I built, with partial success (some of the tweaking worked, others didn't ). I wasn't using it, so I lobbed it into the raffle pile.

Hi Guys. After much testing, gigs, and playing in three different bands I have a happy result. On the advice of Kirby, our guitarist, I bought a Tonebone ABY unit. I have this connected to the amps. The Mesa going to the bottom cab and the LMIII going to the top cab. The LMIII needed polarity change on the pedal. Both cabs set to 4ohm. The result is an incredibly versatile rig that gives me exactly the tone and power that I'm after regardless of the venue. I could not be more pleased. I don't have the rig playing that loud but the versatility of tone and the fact that if any amp or cab craps out at a gig I can keep on playing is priceless. I have now ordered a single 1x10 cab from Barefaced to use as the top cab at smaller gigs. I am seriously pleased with the set-up. Thanks again for all your kind advice. Cheers, Bob

IME trying to work out the exact amount payable in VAT and duties on something you've imported from another country is a fool's errand. It's far simpler to take the price of the item, the cost of shipping add them together and then put another 25% of that total on top. This should adequately cover you from the complexities of trying to find the correct commodity code and then working out if duty is payable on top of VAT or VAT on top of duty and finally the addition of the courier's clearance fees. TBH if you need to work out the price to the exact £, you probably shouldn't be importing it in the first place. My advice has always been that only items which are impossible to get without having to import yourself them from their country of origin are worth the hassle. Trying to save a few pounds on a new Fender or similar mass produced instrument that already has an official UK importer/distributor will generally end in tears and/or disappointment. As for trying to sneak an instrument through customs at the airport - don't even think about it. While everyone has success stories to tell, you won't be so pleased when customs seize your newly bought bass and hit you with a fine as well as the import taxes before you can get it back.

I have an old bootleg of a KISS show in the 70's where at the very end of the gig the drum riser goes up 30ft in the air with lots of pyro exploding around it. As the explosions and audience noise fades and the rest of the band have obviously left the stage you can just hear drummer Peter Criss shouting (picked up by his mic) "Get me down!!! Get me the fukk down!!!" 😂🤣

A slightly alcohol fuelled but rockin' set on Saturday in Basingstoke. Despite being a little more lubricated than I am normally, another bass player was straight up afterwards to ask me what strings I used. Our keyboard player was off with his other band earning proper money but I am loving this band. All good players who rehearse.

I cut the control plate from the mirrored pick guard yesterday. It’s really hard to get the bevelled edge right and it needs a bit more filing around the curve. It’s not as good as a proper metal plate but it’s getting there. I also double and triple checked the bridge position and marked the hole centres with a bradawl along with the holes for the control plate. I’m pretty happy with the positioning now. I just need to actually drill the holes now but I must make sure I use the right sized drill bit.

I didn't like the Katana bass in the '80s, but they look a little better without the oddly shaped pickguard.

Personal highlights: 1. The food. Obvs. 2. Seeing all you fabulous folks again 3. @Jabba_the_gut's (as always) beautiful instruments. Sir, I continue to be in complete awe of your handiwork. 4. Finally getting my hands on a real 80s Fender Performer bass (courtesy of @Stub Mandrel) and very definitely not being disappointed. I already wanted one, now I'm desperate..! 5. The absolutely incredible sound of the latest BC 112 cabs. Sonic perfection and an absolute credit to all involved in their development. 6. The whole day, really. Fabulous. Massive thanks to the Scrumpy Krew for all your hard work. We are not worthy.

Private party in the garden of a lovely Victorian house. Great audience, free bar and fantastic food. Plus the hosts son Lewis came and played 2 numbers with us - so cool

As a bass player for over 50 years now I feel compelled to present some advice to anyone in a local band to ensure you're capitalizing on the opportunity live shows give you and to make sure your connecting with you audience. Because everyone has internet-connected phones, it's far too easy for people to become disconnected from your performance and relegate your music to background noise. However, there are a number of pitfalls I see band after band falling into that are easy to avoid. Take or leave the following, but I can almost guarantee that bands who put these things into practice will see improvement in their short and long-term audience engagement and growth: 1. Plan what you are going to say to your audience whenever you are not playing a song. I see far too many bands get stone-faced, have awkward pauses while they stare at each other waiting for someone to say anything meaningful, and then vomit up some meaningless word salad that people instantly forget the moment the next song starts. In addition to planning your transitions so that you don't look like idiots, make sure you include at least something that can potentially produce an ROI. Mention where people can go to find your music, when and where your next show is, your social media handles, etc. 2. Stop turning your backs to the audience! Doing this occasionally and briefly is fine, because I know sometimes you get into your groove and face each other, etc. However, I've literally seen people turn their backs to the audience for anywhere from 30 seconds to over a minute, and that is a VERY quick way to get your audience to disconnect. While we're on this subject, LOOK THEM IN THE EYES occasionally. Yes, it can be awkward if you overdo this, but neglecting eye contact all together is an egregious sin. Remember, that part of what you're doing while performing is selling yourselves to the audience. In sales, they always teach you to make eye contact with your customer, and this is no different. 3. Plan your set list to follow some kind of dynamic roller coaster. In other words, don't do a bunch of fast/heavy/upbeat songs in a row or vice versa with slower songs. Have some ups and some downs. Vary it up. Tell a story with your selection of songs and make their ordering purposeful and thoughtful. Designers of roller coasters understand this concept. They make the ascent to the top of the first drop deliberately slow to build suspense. They also don't have every twist, turn, and loop feel exactly the same. There is variety, and that ultimately bodes well for everyone. 4. If you play covers, spice them up a bit. Obviously, I'm not asking you to fundamentally change the song. However, adding some kind of twist to make it your own and the listening experience unique for the audience will make you more memorable. If your audience is engaged with you, and they should be, they'll pick up on even subtle things you do and likely appreciate them. 5. Talk to your audience before and after the show. Thank them for coming, and encourage them to follow up in whatever ways you have open to the public. Take selfies with them. I guarantee you that people appreciate this, whether it's apparent or not at the time. People will remember how you make them feel, and a pleasant conversation with them will drastically increase your chances of building a more long-term fan base. I would further state that you should be doing this on social media as well, even after you become "big". 6. Move around and get animated when you play/sing. Obviously, if you're doing highly technical stuff, then you can concentrate on your playing as needed, but don't stand there the entire show like a plank of wood. If it's not readily apparent that you're having fun on stage, I guarantee you your audience won't either. There are probably allot of variables depending on the band, what do you think. Blue

Enjoying the mention of bassoon earlier in the thread. My main instrument is the Contrabassoon. An octave lower than bassoon, it descends to low Bb, a semi tone below standard 5/6 string bass guitar. I fell in love with the instrument when I was a double bassist and was writing for the bassoon for my ensemble. I could only ever recruit session musicians rather than a band member, so I decided to become the player I couldn't find. 10 years later my main project is solo performance of my electroacoustic ambient music, but I do sessions and guest in bands with more regular bassline playing. Here's the only gig from last year - A live stream set for Nick Luscombe's Musicity project. And a recent release: https://thomasstonemusic.bandcamp.com/album/host

I've already recorded reviews for the DP3X! It's super nice! - Both on it's own and as a tech column about amplifiers. I'll see if I can find the links. Oh and before you sk, yes I have done the Tech 21 Steve Harris pedal too which is more than capable of bringing the distortion too!

I’ve often wondered this , apart from the folks on this site the average person isn’t into guitars, basses or guitar music that much. Who’s buying all these new guitars exactly? Where do all the old ones go? As you say the don’t have built in obsolescence like cars or washing machines do

Thanks Pete, In my Area I think after a year of allot of " Covid Down Time" we all learned how important it is to treat the audience well and connect with them. After every show Jenny and her husband are out talking to everyone in the crowd that stayed and came out to see us.

Alcohol. IMG_6435.MP4